MBA students left high and dry

Spare a thought for the classes of 2007 and 2008. It seems investment banking jobs are proving hard to come by.

A student at a leading European business school says banks are still coming to present on campus, but that with the exception of Credit Suisse, few appear to have any full-time places left for 2008: "Places have already been filled by last year's summer interns. If you missed the boat last summer, it's a lot of work to find a place - especially if you don't already have a finance background."

A spokesperson for London Business School assures us it's too early to establish what's going on in terms of banks' recruitment, but that banks are still coming on campus and conducting interviews.

Really? Other business schools are a little more explicit about the situation. Sandra Schwarzer, a finance careers manager at INSEAD, says they've had an "exceptional" year in terms of summer interns and that banks are on campus making offers, but admits that three have already filled corporate finance places - largely with interns.

And another London-based business school careers service manager says MBA students are definitely less popular among banks: "There are a lot more MBAs on the market, and banks appear to be more interested in MSc students with a really good specialty background."

Malcolm Horton, head of European graduate recruiting and programme management at Lehman Brothers, says this year is no different from any other: "There are some business areas that don't need to top up offers made to interns with additional full-time hires, and there are others that are still looking."

Summer interns typically account for 65% to 90% of full-time associate hires, says Horton.

In many cases it looks like 90% may be closer to the mark.